1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a continuous emission radar device for the determination, at short range, of the relative positions of a missile and a target vehicle to which the device is fitted.
2. Summary of the prior art
The perfecting of arms systems such as missile systems requires the greatest possible knowledge of the parameters characterising the relative positions of the missile and target in the final phase of interception. To carry out these measurements, low power continuous emission radars are used to determine the minimum distance by which the missile may pass in relation to the target. This information, while it suffices for tracking, does not in itself alone allow assessment of the position of the missile in relation to the target during the final phase of interception. To obtain an adequate definition of this assessment, it is necessary to know the trajectory of the missile in relation to the target.
French Patent No. 2 561 786 in the name of the present assignee describes a device capable of calculating this trajectory. This device is based on the simultaneous employment of three receiving circuits of the type used in proximeters of the continuous emission type where the signal is modulated by a pseudo-random binary sequence. A description of such proximeters can be found in French Patent No. 2 286 391 also in the name of the present assignee.
In the known device, three distance sums are evaluated, i.e. the sum of the distances from the transmitting antenna to the missile and from the missile to the first receiving antenna, the sum of the distances from the transmitting antenna to the missile and from the missile to the second receiving antenna, and the sum of the distances from the transmitting antenna to the missile and from the missile to the third receiving antenna, and the relative positions of the missile and the target are determined from these sums.